As Disney Soundsational Summer gets underway, even more excitement is coming to Disneyland Resort, where the premiere of the all-new The Little Mermaid ~ Ariel’s Undersea Adventure is just the latest milestone in the ongoing expansion of Disney California Adventure park. The distinctive peaks of the Cadillac Range are already visible on the horizon beyond Pacific Wharf, signaling the creation of Cars Land, the all-new 12-acre land set to open in 2012. And work on the newly themed Disney California Adventure entry gate into Buena Vista Street, complete with Red Car Trolleys and the distinctive Carthay Circle Theatre, will continue through 2011 for a 2012 opening.

The Disney Fantasy, the new Disney Cruise Line ship set to debut next spring, will bring to life many of the innovative features guests love on the recently launched Disney Dream including AquaDuck — the world’s first shipboard water coaster. But new design elements and guest experiences will give the Fantasy an identity all its own.

The Disney Fantasy is the second of two newly designed Disney Cruise Line ships that take the family cruise experience to new heights. Sister ship to the Disney Dream, which entered service in January 2011, the 4,000-passenger Disney Fantasy will sail week-long Caribbean cruises from Port Canaveral, Fla., with its maiden voyage scheduled for March 31, 2012.

Disney Cruise Line is embarking on a first-ever season of Alaskan itineraries, sailing 18, seven-night round-trip cruises this summer season from Vancouver to Tracy Arm Fjord, Skagway, Juneau and Ketchikan. As part of the inaugural voyage, the Disney Wonder marks a unique milestone sailing to the 49th state, and officially adding another itinerary option to Disney’s line-up, giving guests even more destinations to choose from for family cruise vacations.

The Disney Wonder cruise ship sails under the Golden Gate Bridge April 29, 2011 on the way to the Port of San Francisco. This is the first time Disney Cruise Line has visited San Francisco. The ship stopped here for two days as part of a repositioning itinerary heading north to begin Disney Cruise Line’s first Alaska season. During the seven-night Alaskan itinerary, the Disney Wonder visits Juneau, Ketchikan, Skagway and Tracy Arm Fjord.

Ahead of a scheduled announcement from Disney Cruise Line in New York City on April 6 in which Disney is expected to make its itinerary plans known for 2012, a purported press release has been leaked and already making waves by offering up all of the juicy details.

The news comes by way of Dynamic Travel and Cruises, a travel agency located in Texas, who claims to have obtained it from a reporter at the Houston Chronicle who claims it came off of an official Disney website, although the original source appears unclear at this time.

With several hundred characters in the Disney family and just four ships (for now), the chosen character’s bronze image in the atrium of a Disney Cruise Line ship is a rare, distinct and very high honor indeed. To date, the chosen few have included Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Ariel, all of whom have a strong connection to either Disney’s history itself or the sea. Now the fourth mouse-keteer has been revealed by sources to be none-other than the beloved Duffy the Disney Bear.

The Walt Disney Company today released its second Corporate Citizenship report detailing Disney’s progress on environmental and social impacts. The report also includes the Company’s first set of comprehensive citizenship commitments and goals, aligned around three core principles:

Act and create in an ethical manner and consider the consequences of our decisions

Champion the happiness and well-being of kids, parents and families in our endeavors

Inspire kids, parents, employees, and communities to make a lasting, positive change in the world

This long-exposure photo shows the new “Disney Dream” cruise ship docked in the foreground at Port Canaveral, Florida, as the Space Shuttle Discovery blasts off in the background from nearby Cape Canaveral, Fla. at 4:53 p.m. ET on Feb. 24, 2011. The mission marks Discovery’s final liftoff for NASA’s oldest orbiter. The Disney Dream is the newest ship in the Disney Cruise Line fleet, and sailed on its maiden voyage from Port Canaveral last month.

Today, Disney Cruise Line celebrated the keel laying of the Disney Fantasy at the Meyer Werft shipyard. This is the second of two newly-designed ships that take the family cruise experience to all new heights. Sister ship to the Disney Fantasy, Disney Dream, entered service on Jan. 26, 2011.

The keel laying ceremony is a significant milestone in the ship building process when the first block, or section of the ship, is lowered into the building dock and a coin is placed under the keel for good fortune. Placing the coin was Karl Holz, President of Disney Cruise Line, assisted by Minnie Mouse.

Due to political instability at their scheduled destinations, Disney Destinations has issued an alert notifying that itineraries involving Egypt and Tunis have been canceled and modified respectively.

For Egypt, this means that all of the new Adventures by Disney excursions have been canceled through August of 2011. Disney is in the process of reaching out to travel agents and customers who have booked the excursion to offer alternatives.

In the case of Tunis, which is a scheduled port of call on 10- and 11-night European Cruises aboard the Disney Magic, the scheduled stop is being replaced by Palermo, Italy. No additional timeframes have been offered.